Camping
by TheOddCatLady95
Summary: It was just like camping when she was a kid. Well. Sorta. Commission from prxvatecarnage. Crossposted from Archiveofourown.


It was like just like camping when she was a kid.

Well. Almost.

"See, I told you, all we had to do was knock over this tree and it's the _perfect_ campsite!" Nora crossed her arms with pride, after of course, the tree had fallen to the ground with a crash and scared all kinds of crap from Jaune and Ren.

Ruby flipped open Crescent Rose and slashed away the stump. "Well, whatever works!" She gave it a solid kick.

Jaune watched the stump roll away before slowly nodding. "Uh huh… we probably could've walked another, I dunno, half mile and found another spot."

"Well now we don't have to walk anymore! I'm so tired I could _collapse_!" And she did so, right against the tree she had just successfully chopped down.

She had a point. They were all tired, it had been a _really_ long day of just hiking through the wilderness. Not to mention the Nevermore attack, of course they'd handled it well but it didn't help the exhaustion. They needed rest.

But first. Camp needed to be set up.

After taking a breather, Ruby stood up, brushing off her skirt. "Well guys, it's gonna get super dark soon and we have a camp to set up! Jaune, you help me with the shelter. Nora, Ren, better do a Grimm check in the area. If it's a big one, I guess just… yell." That worked.

Nora gave a salute. "Come on Ren, we have Grimm to kill!" She took off into the forest, Ren taking a long deep breath. He waved before taking off into the brush, the sounds of Nora's babbles soon fading into the distance.

 _All right, Step one to creating a shelter- gathering sticks._

A few minutes later, Crescent Rose slashed through the air, chopping down the proper sized branches. Jaune carefully hopped at the fallen branches to start dragging them back to camp. "Maybe it should've been you and Nora making the shelter… she's strong than me." He grunted as he started pulling the wood.

Ruby snorted, giving her weapon a playful twirl before slashing down another branch. "Oh come on Jaune, Nora always goes with Ren! It's how it works. Sides, she isn't as good as shelter making as you."

The blond managed a weak smile. "Thanks, Ruby."

 _Step two- while gathering leaves and smaller branches, start creating the shelters._

Because Nora felt the urge to knock over a _tree_ , it wasn't too hard to lean the largest branches against the trunk, it was just tricky getting them at the right angle. Too high and it would get too cold at night. Too low and odds are you'd wake up when they fell on your face.

Ruby and Nora tended to share a shelter while Ren and Jaune shared the other one. It was a good way to generate warmth. Nora got _very_ cuddly at times, and that got difficult when she started to thrash and fight in her sleep, but Ruby didn't mind it too much. It was better than what Ren had to deal with.

(Jaune didn't think the others could hear him cry out for Pyrrha at night. They didn't tell him anything otherwise.)

The loud crack of gunfire in the distance jarred Ruby out of her thoughts, causing her to drop the branch she was setting up. Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and almost rushed in their direction when Jaune held up a hand. Few desperate seconds of silence…

"WE'RE GOOD!"

Ruby took a deep breath with Nora's confirmation and picked up the branch, ignoring how her fingers were slightly shaking. This wasn't the safety of Beacon anymore, where you could have a teacher running to your aid at any moment. It was just them.

Jaune dropped a pile of dry grass next to Ruby. "Here, leftover from my pile. They're fine, Ruby." The reassurance wasn't really needed. But at the same time, it really, really was.

Ruby picked up the grass and started spreading it across their stick shelter. "Thanks, Jaune." For a lot more than just the grass.

And that was it! The leftover sticks and grass were put together to start creating a fire, the sun was just starting to set when Nora and Jaune arrived.

Nora flopped on the ground, next to the fire Jaune was attempting to kindle. "We just ran into a Boarbatusk. Too bad Grimm just poof away- I bet it would've tasted like bacon!"

"Ugh, don't bring up bacon right now." Ruby held her stomach, feeling it growl. Now she _really_ missed the cafeteria.

Ren opened up his bag. "I managed to gather some berries from the woods to go with… whatever's left."

Tossing open her own bag, Ruby glanced at their rations. Loaf of bread, some roots Ren had found, and an apple. "Well, we're just gonna have a light dinner tonight, guys! Ren, divide up the berries." Ruby pulled out the small knife and chopped up the apple, slicing up the bread as well. "I bet if we double time it tomorrow, we'll reach someplace where we can buy food."

Nora sighed. "Well, it's better than roots." Ren gave her a long look. "I'm serious! The only roots I'm eating, are potatoes. And there better be steak too. And then strawberry shortcake for dessert!"

Everyone groaned this time. Jaune held his stomach. "Nora? Can we cut back on the mentions of food?"

The redhaired girl pouted. "I'm so hungry though…"

A thought popped into Ruby's head, and she couldn't help but chuckle. "Remember that time we had a food fight in the cafeteria? After Nora accidentally hit Weiss in the face with a pie."

The smiles that floated around that group were instantaneous. "Not saying it was actually me, but yeah, that was _epic_." Nora sighed. "So much food. So much fighting. So. Amazing."

"I remember sliding across the floor because Weiss squirted ketchup on it." Ren sat next to Jaune and took the sticks from him. One quick movement and the campfire was ablaze while Jaune just scratched his head. "I don't think we got those stains ever fully out of those uniforms."

Jaune laughed as well. "I remember seeing you holding Weiss' body and loudly screaming 'nooooo!' That was great!"

"Sending your sister flying through the roof was pretty great on my part." Nora sat back up, crossing her arms with pride and nodding at Ruby.

"Oh, and remember when Pyrrha sent all those pop cans-" Ruby cut off.

Right. Pyrrha was gone.

Jaune instinctively seemed to look around for the girl in red while Nora and Ren looked to the ground. They were still grieving. But not like Jaune was.

(He hadn't been there. Ruby still wasn't sure if he fully believed she was gone.)

Suddenly, Jaune quietly laughed. "Yeah. She sent Blake _flying_ across the room! I couldn't believe it."

The smiles that spread across everyone's faces at that moment set some tension free that had been hanging over their group ever since they started this journey. Nora laughed. "Truly the moment we needed… then Ruby turned the tides and sent us flying into the wall! _Ka_ **blammie**!"

So much laughter while Ruby handed out the apple slices and the bread. Ren handed out the berries. "It was a fight well fought, and won."

"It was." Ruby nodded, ignoring any stinging in her eyes. It was from the smoke, clearly. "It really was."

That night, Nora crawled in next to Ruby while Ruby pulled her cloak over the two of them.

"Hey, Rubes?"

Nora's eyes were so bright in the dark. Ruby yawned. "Yeah, Nora?"

"… Do you think we'll ever be Team RWBY and JNPR again? I mean, I know. I know Pyrrha's dead, and she's never coming back, but I want… I just want…" Nora sniffled and wiped her eyes on Ruby's cloak. "I kinda want the days like the food fight back. It was so easy then, I can't even believe it."

Ruby wrapped her friend in a hug. "That's why we're out here, Nora. Some day we'll go back. And we'll have our days back. The only thing different is that Pyrrha won't be out here, but she'll be in here." She pulled away to poke Nora's head. "And right here." She poked Nora's chest at that moment. "So it's okay, all right?"

Nora grinned brightly. "I challenge you all to a food fight when we're home then. And this time, I _will_ be the queen of the castle!"

Ruby just shook her head and giggled before letting her eyes slide close.

Tomorrow was another day. And although it got harder in some ways… it got easier in others.

* * *

 **I'm sorry for this feels trip, but it was what was asked for.**

 **Speaking of which- I do commissions! Yup! It's true! Contact me at the tumblr imburiedincats-sendhelp ooorrrr reach me at theoddone95 at gmail! That simple! But if you don't feel like that, you can just follow me on tumblr to get an idea of when I might update! Well, toodle oo, and question of the day, do you think any of the deaths in volume 3 will not be permanent? Let me know in the comments!**


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